About 450 immigrants have arrived in New Jersey since Saturday on 13 buses from Texas and Louisiana, according to The New York Times. One of them arrived early Monday in Jersey City, said Steve Fulop, mayor of that city. They have also stopped in other parts of the state such as Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison and Trenton.
“They are using New Jersey essentially as a bus stop to get around the limitations on how buses can get to New York,” Fulop said, quoted by the Times. According to the mayor, he is still not concerned about the passage of immigrants through the state.
For his part, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli reported on Sunday that local authorities reported the arrival of about four buses at the Secaucus Junction train station. There they left the migrants with tickets to then take trains to New York City.
“Unexpected consequences” of the new New York order
The new order signed last week by Mayor Eric Adams requires bus operators to report arrivals at least 32 hours in advance and also imposes limitations on the days and times of unloading passengers.
“It seems quite clear that bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants off at the Secaucus train station and having them continue to their final destination,” Gonnelli said in a statement cited by the AP. .
According to Gonnelli, this may be part of the “unexpected consequences” that the New York measure is having, which some have described as very strict.
Bus operators have apparently discovered a loophole in the system to ensure that migrants reach their final destination (New York) despite the new restrictions, Gonnelli said.
The arrival of immigrant buses in New Jersey
Of the approximately 13 buses of immigrants that have arrived in New Jersey in recent days, most came from Texas and at least one from Louisiana.
According to The New York Times report, they came with companions who help the immigrants later travel on trains or buses to New York.
“Texas Governor Greg Abbott continues to treat asylum seekers as political pawns and is instead now leaving families in surrounding cities and states out in the cold, dark night with train tickets to travel to the New York City, just as he has been doing in Chicago,” Kayla Mamelak, spokesperson for the New York mayor, declared in a statement.
Democratic mayors of those most affected cities recently met with Biden to ask for more funds and measures to make it easier for them to assimilate immigrants.
Immigrant flight arrives in Illinois
In addition to buses to New Jersey, hundreds more asylum seekers were transported this holiday weekend to Rockford International Airport, Illinois.
This is the “second recorded case in which the governor of Texas transported asylum seekers on a private plane,” according to the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, who wrote on the social network X.
The immigrants arrived around 1:00 am local time on Sunday and were then put on buses heading to Chicago, a city that also took an exception measure that allows buses that do not comply with new imposed restrictions to be seized.
“Terrible”: migrants sent on buses from Texas to Chicago recount what they experienced on their way to the US
2024-01-02 12:26:00
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